MLS Roundup: Seattle extends West lead, Portland tops RSL, more

Obafemi Martins scored two goals and was sent off in the Seattle Sounders' 3-2 win over the Chicago Fire Saturday night.

Ted S. Warren/AP

June 08, 2014

BRIDGEVIEW, Illinois (AP) - Seattle's Obafemi Martins scored twice before his first-half ejection, setting up the Sounders' 3-2 win at Chicago on Saturday, which extended their lead atop the MLS standings heading into the three-week World Cup break. Their lead over nearest rival Real Salt Lake was stretched to seven points, as the Utah club was beaten at home by Portland.

Lamar Neagle added a third goal for Seattle in the 78th minute, with Chicago rookie Harry Shipp scoring his second of the game four minutes later, but the hosts could not find an equalizer. Martins scored in the 31st and 38th minutes but was sent off after an altercation with the Fire's Benji Joya seconds after Shipp scored his first goal in the 41st minute.

Martins, whose native Nigeria fell to the USA 2-1 in a friendly Saturday, matched his 2013 season output of eight goals in five fewer games (20 in 2013, 15 in 2014). Shipp, meanwhile, padded his stats in his impressive debut campaign and now has five goals and four assists for the 2-4-8 Fire.

Real Salt Lake failed to keep pace with the Sounders as its suffered its first home loss against Portland in a Western Confernece finals rematch. Fanendo Adi stayed hot, scoring a pair of goals, and captain Will Johnson converted a penalty for the Timbers against his former side. Luke Mulholland scored the lone goal for RSL, who played without team captain Kyle Beckerman and goalkeeper Nick Rimando, on World Cup duty with the U.S. national team, and injured Costa Rican forward Alvaro Saborio. Real Salt Lake has suffered losses on consecutive weekends after going 12 matches unbeaten to start the season.

DALLAS 3, COLORADO RAPIDS 2

Dallas ended a run of eight games without a victory by beating Colorado behind goals from Fabian Castillo, Zach Loyd and Andres Escobar. The Texan club had failed to score more than one goal in a game during its skid but broke that drought against manager Oscar Pareja's former side. Castillo scored what proved the decisive goal in the 62nd minute with a classy effort, dribbling around one defender and then curling a 15-yard shot beyond the goalkeeper's reach.

D.C. UNITED 0, COLUMBUS CREW 0

Columbus goalkeeper Steve Clark saved a Fabian Espindola penalty in second-half stoppage time to preserve a point for the Crew at D.C. United. Columbus has won only one of its past 12 games while D.C. missed a chance to go top of the Eastern Conference, with the draw putting the club one point behind leader New England.

PHILADELPHIA UNION 3, VANCOUVER WHITECAPS 3

Vancouver's Pedro Morales scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season with a penalty in the 81st minute, which gave the Whitecaps a draw at Philadelphia and extended their unbeaten streak to seven games.

Conor Casey scored twice and Sebastien Le Toux added a goal for the Union, all in the space of eight minutes during the second half to take a 3-2 lead. Casey has four goals in the past two games. Erik Hurtado scored in the 18th minute and Nicolas Mezquida added a goal in the 42nd to give the Whitecaps a 2-0 lead.

TORONTO 1, SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES 0

Toronto's Jermain Defoe scored a 28th minute penalty and the Canadian club hung on for a 1-0 win over San Jose. The former Tottenham and England striker converted after Nick Hagglund was pulled down in the box for his seventh goal of the season.